Policy Framework

Key Planning Documents

On March 20, 2018, the City Council passed a Strategic Plan for the City's Open Space Program. The Strategic Plan builds on, refines, and replaces a similar plan approved by the City Council in 2002. It is intended to address this strong community interest by providing readers with a clear roadmap for preserving and managing open space in and around the City through 2030, the final year of Measure O, the City’s open space parcel tax.

At its March 2018 meeting, the Open Space and Habitat Commission unanimously voted to recommend that the City Council approve the Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan incorporates the key themes that were expressed by the community during a 2016 public outreach effort. This outreach effort included an on-line survey, focus groups, and a public workshop. To read a report summarizing the results from this outreach effort, click here. The community said it wanted the Open Space Program to place greater emphasis on the following:

Public access and recreation

Habitat restoration

Financial and program accountability, and

Public engagement and partnerships.

Other foundational planning documents include the 1989 Davis Greenway Plan, the 2001 General Plan Update, and the 2002 Davis Open Space Acquisition and Management Plan. The City’s long-term, land-use vision, as described in the 2001 General Plan Update, calls for a “cohesive, compact, university-oriented community surrounded by and containing farmland, greenbelts, natural habitats, and natural resources.” This vision was further refined in the City's 2002 Davis Open Space Acquisition and Management Plan (the "2002 A&M Plan"). The 2002 A&M Plan identified land acquisition categories and set criteria to guide open space acquisitions by the City. In 2007, the City updated its acquisition priorities with information from the 1989 Davis Greenway Plan. Thus, the long-term vision of the City’s open-space program is rooted in almost 30 years of planning for open space conservation by the community.

For more information about these key planning documents, please refer to the Midterm Progress Report on Measure O produced by the City of Davis and the Open Space and Habitat Commission.

reduce the occurrence of conflicts between agricultural and non-agricultural land uses, and

reduce the loss of agricultural resources by limiting the circumstances under which agricultural operations may be deemed a nuisance.

To achieve the ordinance's objectives, the City Council included two key requirements that developers must comply with if they are proposing to convert land from agricultural uses to non-agricultural uses, and their project is adjacent to agricultural land. These requirements (which were updated by the City Council in 2007) are:

Required Agricultural Buffer. The developer must provide an agricultural buffer (i.e., an agricultural transition area, greenbelt or habitat area) that is at least 150 feet wide between their project and the adjacent agricultural uses.

Required Agricultural Mitigation. Developers also must secure (through fee title or easement) at least two acres of agricultural land elsewhere within the Davis Planning Area to “mitigate” for every acre of agricultural land lost due to their project (excluding the required agricultural buffer mentioned above). Mitigation lands are first directed to the newly created agricultural edge of the development project (i.e., the non-urbanized edge) to create a permanent edge of the City. This non-urbanized edge conservation area must be of a size that is economically viable as farmland (a minimum 1/4 mile in width). If additional mitigation acreage is required after the non-urbanized edge is secured, the developer is incentivized to secure lands that have been prioritized by the City for permanent protection. For example, if a project results in the permanent loss of 100 acres of agricultural land and the establishment of the non-urbanized edge requires 75 acres, the developer has the option to locate the remaining mitigation acreage anywhere in the Davis Planning Area with credit determined by where the remainder acreage is located. If the remainder acreage is located in a priority acquisition area, less acreage is required; if the remainder acreage is located in a non-priority area, more acreage is required. More information about the City's agriculture mitigation requirements can be found in this May 2016 staff report.

The developer is not required to mitigate for the agricultural buffer mentioned above (i.e., the agricultural buffer is subtracted from the total acreage the developer is required to mitigate). At the same time, the developer cannot count the agricultural buffer toward the acreage the developer is required to mitigate.

The City of Davis' 1995 Agricultural Preservation Program report provided the basis for requiring agricultural mitigation. This report includes the text of the Right to Farm and Farmland Preservation Ordinance, a staff report on this ordinance, and the report titled "Nexus Study and Evaluation of the Right to Farm and Farmland Preservation Ordinance." The nexus study (i) analyzed the fiscal implications of the ordinance on the farm and development community, the City, and the public, and (ii) addressed the relationship or “nexus” between the ordinance requirements and the impacts of development.

For more information about this key City Ordinance, please refer to the Midterm Progress Report on Measure O produced by the City of Davis and the Open Space and Habitat Commission.

Key Voter Initiatives

Two voter initiatives are key to the policy framework for the Open Space Program. One of these voter initiatives was designed to preserve agricultural land, and the other was designed to provide a stable, reliable funding source for the acquisition and management of open space around the City. Each of these voter initiatives is described briefly below:

Citizens’ Right to Vote on Future Use of Open Space and Agricultural Lands

Measure R requires an affirmative citizen vote for General Plan Amendments that re-designate land from agricultural or open space to urban uses. After completion of environmental review and public hearings, the City Council may choose to put a proposed land use change on the ballot for voter consideration. The Measure R process also includes identification of “Baseline Project Features” which may not be changed without subsequent voter approval.

Measure O – The Open Space Protection Special Tax Fund

The City’s Open Space Protection Special Tax Fund is a stable source of long-term local funding to protect open space lands in the Davis Planning Area. Approved as Measure O in November 2000 by 70% of Davis voters, the parcel tax allows the City to acquire and maintain open space. The 30-year tax (Ordinance 2033 of the City’s Municipal Code) began July 1, 2001 and remains in effect until June 30, 2031. The tax can be extended or re-authorized by Davis voters prior to that date.

This parcel tax provides “revenue for the acquisition, operation, and maintenance of lands and easements for open space, habitat and agricultural uses and preservation in the areas surrounding the City.” For the purposes of this funding source, open space is defined as “land in a predominantly natural state or altered for natural resources based uses (i.e., farming, parks), and may include, but is not limited to riparian areas, agricultural lands, watersheds, forests, floodplains, and habitat areas.”

The funds in the Open Space Protection Special Tax Fund may be used only:

for the acquisition in fee or easement of open space lands within the Davis Planning Area;

for the improvement, operation, maintenance and/or monitoring of open space lands currently owned by the City in fee easement [or] acquired by the City in the future, including but not limited to the restoration, enhancement and preservation of habitat areas, maintenance of open space lands, and monitoring of habitat and agricultural conservation easements;

for the acquisition, improvement, and operation of only those bicycle trails designed to connect Davis to open space areas outside the city and with other regional bicycle facilities;

for the construction and maintenance of facilities necessary to preserve or enhance open space properties for open space purposes (i.e., the construction [or] maintenance of water wells and irrigation systems to serve the property and land uses, the creation and/or maintenance of access facilities where appropriate to promote public education and enjoyment of the open space, etc.); and

for the incidental expenses incurred in the administration of this tax, including but not limited to the cost of elections, and the cost of collection. Revenues may be used to operate, maintain and monitor properties owned in fee or easement jointly by the City and other public agencies and/or land trusts whose mission includes the preservation of open space lands within the Davis Planning Area.

Open Space and Habitat Commission

Realizing that open space was more than just recreational parks and that it included agricultural, natural, and semi-natural lands within and around the City, the City Council unanimously passed in 1996 a resolution establishing the Open Space and Habitat Commission. The new Commission was directed to:

advise the City Council and staff on all open space issues, programs, and projects;

monitor and facilitate the implementation of the City’s open space objectives and identify solutions to implementation problems;

serve as a focal point for the community and City government for open space projects and issues;

identify implementation opportunities;

generate public support through education and promotion;

monitor implementation for consistency with the Open Space Element;

facilitate volunteer activities and cooperative ventures; and

monitor problems and identify solutions.

For information about the Commission, meeting times, and meeting agendas and minutes, please visit the Commission's homepage. The latest Commission work plan and five-year implementation plan can be found here.

For more information about the policy framework, and the land and habitat conservation work of the City and the Open Space and Habitat Commission, please refer to the Midterm Progress Report on Measure O produced by the City of Davis and the Open Space and Habitat Commission.